By Greg Fry

British Columbians Vote No To Electoral Reform

Dec 20, 2018 | 1:35 PM

VICTORIA — British Columbians have voted to keep its current First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) electoral system.

Elections BC said 61.3 per cent voted to maintain the status quo (or 845,235 people) while 38.7 per cent (533,518 people) voted for a form of proportional representation (PR).

Of those who voted in favour of PR, Mixed Member Proportional won the day with 63.05 per cent of the vote.

Voter turnout was 42.6 per cent of registered voters.

In the two Prince George ridings, residents voted in even higher numbers to keep FPTP.

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In Prince George-Valemount 70.87 per cent of residents (9,581 people) voted in favour of FPTP while 29.13 per cent (3,939 people) voted in favour of PR.

In Prince George-Mackenzie, 71.30 per cent (9,367) voted in favour of FPTP while 28.70 per cent (3,771) voted for PR.

Elsewhere, in Cariboo-Chilcotin, 76.48 per cent (8,002) voted in favour of FPTP while 23.52 per cent (2,461) voted for PR.

In Cariboo-North, 75.23 per cent (6,456) voted in favour of FPTP while 24.77 per cent (2,126) voted for PR.

In Nechako Lakes, 77.65 per cent (4,848) voted in favour of FPTP while 22.35 per cent (1,395) voted for PR.

In Skeena, 66.83 per cent (4,863) voted in favour of FPTP while 33.17 per cent (2,414) voted for PR. 

In Stikine, 60.03 per cent (3,142) voted in favour of FPTP while 39.97 per cent (2,092) voted for PR. 

Residents voted via mail-in ballot from October 22 to December 7.

Premier John Horgan, who campaigned in favour of electoral reform, reacted by noting people took part in the largest public engagement in B.C. history.

“British Columbians are passionate about democracy. I want to thank everyone who turned out to vote in such strong numbers and express my gratitude to Elections BC for its work running a fair referendum that engaged people throughout B.C.”